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EDITORS’ NOTES

A concept album of character studies culled from life on the road. After 2014’s smash hit “Gooey” catapulted Glass Animals into the international spotlight, the English indie rockers toured aggressively for a year straight. How to Be a Human Being is a lush package of swirling synths, eccentric production, and bittersweet vocals inspired by their experiences.

How to Be a Human Being

EDITORS’ NOTES

A concept album of character studies culled from life on the road. After 2014’s smash hit “Gooey” catapulted Glass Animals into the international spotlight, the English indie rockers toured aggressively for a year straight. How to Be a Human Being is a lush package of swirling synths, eccentric production, and bittersweet vocals inspired by their experiences.

TITLE

TIME

PRICE

Life Itself

4:41

$1.29

Youth

3:50

$1.29

Season 2 Episode 3

4:03

$1.29

Pork Soda

4:13

$1.29

Mama's Gun

4:26

$1.29

Cane Shuga

3:16

$1.29

[Premade Sandwiches]

0:36

$1.29

The Other Side of Paradise

5:20

$1.29

Take a Slice

3:49

$1.29

Poplar St.

4:22

$1.29

Agnes

4:31

$1.29

11 Songs

℗ 2016 Wolf Tone Limited

Customer Reviews

5 out of 5

217 Ratings

They're baaaack

Mr-daviddd, Jun 7, 2016

From the sound of Life Itself, it sounds like Glass Animals picked up right where they left off after they dropped debut album Zaba, I can't wait to hear more from the electric tribe

Different But Great

Screebers, Aug 27, 2016

It's a slight change in style from the band that brought us the unique work that was Zaba, but it is clear the band has obviously not heard of a Sophomore slump. This album is fantastic from beginning to end. The jungle-like percussion undertones that were felt in Zaba are gone, and there is a certain maturity to the sound compared to the bands debut album. The underlying individual personas the songs are given and take on by no means overpower. The way the band deftly builds crescendo in songs throughout the album is breathtaking at times. One of the best alternative albums of the year, I can't wait to hear more but until then I'll continue to sit back, listen, and enjoy. Bravo.

About Glass Animals

An intriguing mix of synth pop, indie, and hip-hop influences, Glass Animals are an Oxford, England-based band featuring singer/guitarist Dave Bayley, guitarist/keyboardist Drew MacFarlane, bassist/keyboardist Edmund Irwin-Singer and drummer Joe Seaward. Bayley and Seaward were childhood friends, but didn't start making music together until they finished school. Bayley had been writing and recording songs in his spare time, and ultimately drafted Seaward, MacFarlane and Irwin-Singer to play with him. While they were still at university they released their debut EP, Leaflings, in 2012. Though Bayley had planned to go to medical school after graduation, Glass Animals captured the attention of acclaimed producer Paul Epworth, who signed them to his label Wolf Tone in 2013 and released the Glass Animals EP, which included the single "Black Mambo." In 2014, the band released their debut album, Zaba, which blended electronics with indie guitar music and was co-produced by Bayley and Epworth.

Glass Animals spent much of the next two years touring the world and gathering stories from the people they encountered (which Bayley secretly recorded on his phone). The band used these tales as lyrical inspiration for their second album, which the band recorded in late 2015. How to Be a Human Being, a concept album with each song telling the story of a different character, arrived in August 2016. ~ James Pearce